Joseph Richard Harris ^{1596,1600,2003,2517,2518,2519}

   Cause of his death was Cerebral Hemmorhage, high blood pressure.²⁵²⁰

  General Notes:

Re: Joseph Richard Harris
Married Ellen Eliza (Nellie) Marsh in Bristol. We believe Ellen was Tom's Sister (see Mary Harris)
Joseph worked as a machinist on a merchant ship. He would buy Nellie an engagement present of rose colored vases (one is broken, Ruth Manning, in Calgary, has the other) while on a ship in Venice, Italy. He then ran the "donkey engine" as a machinist at Fry's Chocolate Factory in Bristol. They married in Bristol in 1894 and had 4 children. The two older children used to walk to the chocolate factory with a hot meal every day for their dad.
The family came to Calgary in 1906, when Joseph was 33 years old.
Nellie had given refuge one stormy evening to a Sarcee Indian who was out in the storm searching for 4 lost horses. Nellie was a tiny woman and was preparing the evening meal for her children when there was a knock on the door. She invited the man in who was cold and hungry and she offered him a hot meal of stew and dumplings. She placed his coat by the fire to dry and while he ate his meal the children stopped eating and stared at the man in awe. The Indian relished the hot meal and after finishing he thanked Nellie and left.
In 1912, Nellie and her children went downtown to see the first Calgary Stampede Parade. The parade included bands, floats, cowboys and the Indians. As the Sarcee band of Indians was approaching, the Chief raised his hand to motion to his warriors to stop. He halted directly in front of Nellie. He removed his headdress and bowed down to Nellie. It was then she recognized the man to whom she had served dinner on that stormy night. For him to stop and bow down to her was the highest honor that could be paid to her.
Joseph worked for Eau Claire Lumber in Calgary. Their oldest son "Joseph" became a minister and moved to Vancouver. Nellie went out to visit her son and fell in love with Vancouver. She sent a telegram back to Joseph which read, :This is God's country, pack up and join me. I'm not coming back to Calgary."
So Joseph moved to Vancouver and worked for some time there as a carpenter. At church Joseph met the Caples family and was offered a job in their bakery. Joseph became a baker and worked at the Caples Bakery up until his death.
Nellie could not make the house payments and the bank took the house. Now destitute, Nellie lived in a rooming house for a time. Then she moved into the home of the Caples. Later she returned to Calgary and moved in with her daughter Nellie ( Mae ). When Mae and her husband moved to the Vancouver area, Nellie moved into a nursing home in Calgary. At this point (1962) all Nellie's children lived in the Vancouver area so they decided to fly their mother to Vancouver to be with them. Now, Nellie did not believe in flying and swore that she never would. She was sedated and flown to Vancouver and never realizing that she had been moved, she wondered up until her death why all her children suddenly started visiting her. She died in 1963.
Nellie and Joseph had 5 children
Joseph Edwin Harris
b. March 6, 1896 in Bristol, England)
Nellie Mable (Mae) Harris
b. August 2, 1897 in Bristol, England
Frances Rose Harris
b. June 21, 1899 in Bristol, England
Reginald Harris
b. 1903 in Bristol
Charles Marsh Harris
b. 1916 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was born in the house his father built on Parkhill in Calgary which was just recently demolished. The Manning's visited the house and saw the room where he was born.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Stoker, 1894, Parish of Clifton, Bristol, England. ¹⁶⁰⁰

• Residence: 17 Freeland? Place, 1894, Parish of Clifton, Bristol, England. ¹⁶⁰⁰

• Occupation: Stoker, 1901, Bristol, Gloucestershire. ²⁰⁰³

• Occupation: Vancouver, B.C. ²⁵²⁰ carpenter

• Occupation, 1940, Vancouver, B.C. ²⁵²⁰ baker

• Residence, 1940, 875 E 51st Ave, Vancouver, B.C. ²⁵²⁰

Joseph married Ellen Eliza Marsh, daughter of (Charles) Griffin Marsh and Harriet Elizabeth Lamb, on 22 Sep 1894 in Parish of Clifton, Bristol, England.¹⁶⁰⁰ (Ellen Eliza Marsh was born on 29 Mar 1873 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire,^{2003,2522,2523,2524} died on 2 Jun 1963 in White Rock, B.C. ²⁵²⁵ and was buried on 5 Jun 1963 in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, B.C. ²⁵²⁵.). The cause of her death was Congestive heart failure.²⁵²⁰